Zacatecas: Pueblo vs Sicarios; Two Delinquents Dead

Source: http://puentelibre.mx/not_detalle.php?id_n=61677

Written by: Staff

The confrontation took place shortly after noon last Sunday after one of a group of assassins traveling in two vehicles launched a grenade at a home after the residents of Villa Cárdenas, Zacatecas refused to turn their hunting rifles over to the criminals.

Before heading out of town, three of the criminals, amongst them a woman, abducted the municipal delegate, Jesús Torres, and to date, his whereabouts is unknown.

Yesterday morning, social activist, Edith Ortega, claimed that when Jesús Torres was instructed by criminal elements to have the residents of the region turn over their weapons, he reported the incident to state authorities seeking their help, but he was ignored. She went on to say that she too denounced the situation with the authorities to no end.

“Jesús told me that they had called him and told him that everyone in the community had to turn over their weapons. He told this to the residents, but they refused. [The sicarios] called back saying that if they didn’t turn the weapons over [willingly], they would come and get them. The “pueblo” replied: if they want to come for them, we will be waiting.”

According to the activist, Sunday’s shootout began around noon and lasted until about 6 p.m. Although “calls were made to the police and the army, no one arrived. The 'pueblo' was left to fend for itself.”

She also said that after a week of non-stop threats and in light of the lack of support from the authorities, residents had to take matters into their own hands and confront the delinquents who were, for the most part, around 15 and 16 years old.

Torres’ wife informed the nearby military command zone that the sicarios had take her husband away, but there was still no response.

As of yesterday (Monday 2/28), elements of the ministerial police and investigators arrived to take away two bodies and the truck with Aguascalientes plates the sicarios left behind.

“The people tell me that two trucks full of soldiers arrived as well, but why bother now?” said Ortega.

Now the residents of Villa Cárdenas live with the fear that the criminals will return especially since they warned they would come back to “wipe everything out.”

In light of this, the social activist urged the authorities to provide the residents of Villa Cárdenas with the protection that they need.

In the afternoon the governor assured the public that the community “now is in a state of calm,” and that it is being patrolled by state and ministerial police.

According to the governor’s spokesman, Sunday’s confrontation “didn’t last longer than fifteen minutes,” and the two slain sicarios are yet to be identified.